1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to feed supplements for commercial poultry breeder facilities, along with a process for improving and enhancing the commercial viability of these types of facilities. The invention also provides a valuable and economically attractive use of citrus byproduct or waste, including components thereof, for use as a feed supplement in commercial breeder operations. Citrus byproduct is used at relatively low levels as a feed supplement to improve the performance of the feed and add significant economic value while maintaining or enhancing bird health and economic values.
This citrus byproduct invention is for improving bird health and the performance in egg production operations such as those of commercial poultry breeder or egg production houses. The invention also is for improving the birds themselves and their egg production and quality.
2. Description of Related Art
Breeder operations in current poultry production represent major capital investments for commercial producers. A primary objective of a poultry breeder operation is to produce fertile eggs that will be hatched to produce chicks for broiler operations and future breeder operations. Any reduction in rate of egg production and/or egg fertility, due to physiological or environmental impacts, can significantly reduce operation efficiency and greatly increase costs. Typically, egg fertility is equated to the percentage of eggs which hatch into viable chicks.
Animal husbandry of poultry breeder birds is typically carried out in two stages. The first is a development stage during which the chicks are grown into “pullets”. Breeder bird chicks are grown for a period of 22 to 24 weeks in communal pens. During this earlier stage, the birds are often reared in pens so as to be separated according to sex. Birds are fed a diet formulated to promote longevity and control weight gain of both males and females. At the conclusion of this stage of development, the pullets are ready for the next stage.
In a typical commercial breeder operation, the pullets are transferred to so-called breeder houses for the remainder of their lives. Birds are typically maintained in the breeder house for 30 to 35 weeks. Females and males are placed separately into the houses. Females are placed to the sidewalls of the breeder house, in an area commonly referred to as the ‘slat’ area. The floor of this growing zone is raised and feces drop through slats onto a concrete collection floor. Fecal material is removed only at the end of a breeder growth cycle. Feed and water are provided in the slat area so that females spend most of their time in this area. Males are excluded from feeding in this area due to the special construction of the feeding troughs. Feed rations are strictly controlled to avoid excessive weight gain of female birds.
In these traditional breeder operations, male birds are placed in the center of the breeder house commonly referred to as the ‘scratch’ area. This area has a concrete floor that is covered with litter material to a depth of approximately 18 to 24 inches. Male birds are fed and watered in the center of the breeder house so that males congregate in the scratch area. However, male and female birds have free access to both the scratch and slat areas. Male birds are fed a strictly controlled diet to prevent excess weight gain and promote long term health. Male birds are fed in the morning hours. After a period of several hours, feeding stations are raised above bird height in order to prevent all-day feeding behavior.
A primary goal of breeder operations is to achieve good mating and egg laying behaviors of mature birds. Newly placed female pullets come into egg laying maturity after 5 to 6 weeks in the breeder house environment. Females are free at any time to enter the scratch area to be inseminated by male birds. However, female pullets may remain on the slats for several weeks before they enter the scratch area, due to their general insecurity in the new environment and to aggressive behavior by larger male birds. This is discussed in greater detail in Sainsbury, “Poultry Health and Management: Chickens, Ducks, Turkeys, Geese, and Quail, Fourth Edition”, Blackwell Science Publishers Ltd., Oxford, 2000. This reference and all others identified herein are incorporated by reference hereinto. After several weeks, females freely enter the scratch area. Each male bird typically mates with a group of 8-10 females. These females are generally serviced only by the one male. Each male creates a territory for himself within the breeder house.
In traditional breeder operations, when females come into egg laying maturity, they frequent nesting boxes that are placed in rows alongside the scratch area. Each female can lay 1 to 3 eggs per day. Egg production per bird peaks at 10 to 12 weeks after placement and slowly declines thereafter. Eggs are laid in the nest boxes and are conveyed to a collection area by a mechanical belt system. Females do lay eggs in nests created on the scratch area floor. These eggs are manually collected. Eggs are also laid on the slats. These eggs are also manually collected each day.
Reduction in mating behavior ultimately reduces egg fertility. The breeder house manager monitors egg fertility often, typically weekly. Reduced egg fertility results in removal of non-mating males with replacement by fresh male pullets in order to restore normal mating behavior throughout the house. This often is referred to as “spiking.”
In poultry breeder operations, feed and water is made available to the chicks and pullets and mature birds. Generally, these are high volume facilities, and efficiency and cost control are extremely important. While the majority of these operations are for egg and chicken production, other poultry can be included, such as turkey, ducks, geese and less common poultry as well.
Poultry feed for these types of commercial operations is traditionally formulated in an effort to maximize feed efficiency by improving properties such as live weight gain, feed conversion, adjusted feed conversion and mortality, while seeking to avoid unnecessary feed costs and negative effects on the health of the live birds.
Citrus byproducts have been used extensively for many years (or have been proposed for use) as feed for cattle and other mammals. These uses incorporate citrus byproduct as a food source blended with typical silage sources. Uses or proposed uses of citrus byproducts as feed components for other animals also is generally known. Prior proposals have been made with respect to poultry feed or diet uses for citrus originating materials. Information of interest in this regard includes the following. All references referred to herein are incorporated by references hereinto.
Hutton, “Citrus Pulp in Formulated Diets”, Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia: 1987, Farrell, ed, Armdale, Australia, discusses including dried citrus pulp in formulated diets for poultry. The suggestion reported in this publication is to utilize 5 percent dried grapefruit pulp. An article referenced in this connection is El Moghazy et al, “Some Neglected Poultry Feed Stuffs from Vegetable and Fruit Wastes,” 1982. This article summarizes feeding trials with dried citrus sludge or dried citrus pulp as a feedstuff component at about 7.5 weight percent.
In their “Studies on Utilization of Citrus Byproducts as Livestock Feeds”, Korean Journal of Animal Science, 26(3), 244-250, 1984 and 27(10), 673-678, 1985, Yang and Chung report information concerning the feeding value of citrus byproducts on broiler chicks and layer hens. Feed blends including between 5 percent and 15 percent by weight of dried citrus pulp and/or peel are noted. These articles suggest an overall conclusion that feeding dried citrus pulp or peel is detrimental to weight gain and feed conversion values. Velloso, “Use of Citrus Pulp in Animal Feeding”, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1985, reports that broilers that have reached twenty one days of age can utilize up to 5 percent citrus pulp in their diet. Table 6 of this article reports feeding at 20 percent, 40 percent and 60 percent as an in affect replacement of milo.
Deyoe et al, “Citrus Biflavonoids in Broiler Diets”, Poultry Science, Volume 41, pages 1088-1090, 1962, reports upon a non-isocaloric addition of as low as 0.5 percent of “citrus bioflavonoids” (from Sunkist Growers, Ontario, Calif.) without specifying or identifying the bioflavonoids. This article acknowledges the bioflavonoid material hesperidin as a bioflavonoid. This article generally reports that mortality was reduced as the level of citrus bioflavonoid inclusion was increased (up to 5 percent), with a poorer feed conversion performance at higher levels.
Tamasaukas et al, “Evaluation of the Efficacy of Salstop and Digestor Broilers (Citrade C.A.), Two Products Derived From Citrus Fruit Seed Extracts, Against Avin Coccidiosis: Floor Pen Studies,” FLAP, Parasitol al Dia, 20: 118-124, 1996, reports on testing of citrus fruit seed extracts for use against coccidiosis in broilers. Each seed extract was added to the broiler feed at relatively low levels. The extracted components were used at levels as low as 500 grams/ton of food.
Patel et al, “Effect of Dietary Cereal Grain, Citrus Pectin, and Guar Gum on Liver Fat in Laying Hens and Young Chicks”, Poultry Science, 60:631-636, 1981 reports on various feeds, including some with citrus pectin, for laying hens. In addition, Zio-ur-Rehman et al, “Utilization of Fruit and Vegetable Wastes in Layers' Diet”, Journal of Food Science Agriculture, 65:381-383, 1994 references improvement in egg production and egg size using a carrot residue indicates and results that are comparable to the control with a diet for layers that contained orange waste.
Much of this literature indicates that citrus byproducts can be used as a feed component at levels which might be considered relatively low. Even at these relatively low levels, these reported results are mixed in that feed efficiency and bird health aspects can be inconsistent in generally providing positive results in one area at the expense of seeing negative results in another area. This problem is not clearly solved by incorporating only bioflavonoids or extracts from citrus seeds. Besides the reported mixed results, using bioflavonoids or seed extracts adds having to separate the natural combination of citrus waste into individual bioflavonoids or extracts through separation or isolation techniques.
A particularly desirable solution would be to be able to use an inexpensive natural additive to poultry feed in order to enhance feed performance without detrimentally affecting the birds' health or mortality. Effective materials which are byproducts that do not require isolation or extraction to be suitable for use in poultry feed are recognized herein as being of value in this regard when used at levels characteristic of a feed supplement rather than at levels of a component of a feed blend, typically one which is intended to provide food value.
The present invention addresses these matters by providing a feed supplement which is inexpensive, widely available and requires no separation of individual bioflavonoids or isolation of components useful as supplements. The invention provides a feed supplement for poultry breeder operations which is citrus byproduct. The preferred citrus byproduct is dried citrus peel or pulp from citrus operations which generate citrus peel or pulp byproduct or waste during citrus juice extraction. The invention can entail a process for enhancing commercial poultry breeder operations, which includes mixing dried citrus peel byproduct material at supplement or additive levels into commercial feed formulations, while enhancing bird health and reducing bird mortality and adjusted feed conversion and while reducing ammonia levels within the poultry pens.
An aspect or object of the present invention is to provide an improved feed diet for commercial poultry breeder operations.
Another aspect or object of the present invention is to provide an improved poultry breeder process through the use of a natural organic source of a feed supplement which controls negative aspects of commercial poultry breeder operations and enhances feed effectiveness.
Another aspect or object of this invention is to provide an improved poultry breeder diet composition and process by which a change in the composition of the poultry feed itself addresses substantial problems in poultry breeding, such as by lessening ammonia generated by the birds.
Another aspect or object of the present invention is to provide an economically beneficial and productive outlet to breeder operations for large quantities of solid byproduct from commercial citrus juice expressing operations.
A further aspect or object of this invention is to provide a product and process which enhances the effectiveness of poultry feed in breeder operations.
Another aspect or object of the present invention is to provide a product and process in the poultry feed business for breeder operations where a supplement remains as intact particles of a naturally occurring byproduct composition.
Another aspect or object of embodiments of this invention is to provide improved product and process advances for breeder operations which use effective and inexpensive feed supplement material in its “native” state without requiring extraction, isolation, purification and/or physical modification.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, relevant information concerning which is shown in the accompanying drawings.